Almost 80% of Tokyo Games volunteers concerned about COVID-19: survey

[October 21, 2020]    TOKYO (Reuters) - Almost 80% of volunteers for next year's rearranged Summer Olympics are concerned about the spread of the novel coronavirus, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) survey showed.

Security officers conduct a test session of screening measures for games officials including COVID-19 countermeasures, hosted by Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, ahead of the summer games that have been postponed to 2021 due to the disease outbreak, at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

The Games were postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic and the survey of over 13,000 volunteers found almost half were also worried about the impact the delay will have "on the level of enthusiasm".

In response to the findings, TMG said it has been creating "infection control manuals" to ensure a safe and secure environment for volunteer activities and that further training would be provided.

Online training will continue until March when the volunteers will be notified of which role they will fill at the Games, which begin in July.

(Reporting by Jack Tarrant; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.